


Redwall Fic Month

by LadyoftheShield



Category: Redwall Series - Brian Jacques, Triss - Redwall
Genre: Bonding, Friendship, Gen, Orphans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 16:46:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11718420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyoftheShield/pseuds/LadyoftheShield
Summary: Prompts for Redwall Fic Month 2017. All Gen, assorted books in the series.1. Kroova and Shogg bond





	Redwall Fic Month

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Exploration 
> 
> Disclose: to open up, to reveal

 

Cricket song wrapped around the still figures resting in the Guosim boat. Kroova Wavedog stared out into the night, processing the day's events.

This time last night, he, Sagax and Scarum had been laughing and joking aboard the _Stopdog_ with nary a care in the world. Now they had a pair of crazy white ferrets and a crew of vermin chasing them across tide and lame. This was exactly the type of adventure Kroova had dreamed of as a kit. An adventure where he could be a part of something bigger, something bolder, something wilder than the daily humdrum of living alone and unwanted on the sea.

Now that he had it, he was equal parts exhilarated and terrified, mainly of Sagax's old man hunting him down for dragging his son into this mess.

Even knowing Sagax's old man was leagues away, knowing he definitely didn't know about any of this, a part of him protested at the thought. How was he supposed to know they'd run afoul of vermin? He hadn't even done anything to draw them this time!

And really, he thought after a moment, it wasn't them the vermin were after. His gaze turned to the two ragged figures sleeping entangled at the bow of the boat. Triss and Shogg. Kroova knew hunger well. Filling his belly under the mercy of the sea was a constant struggle, especially on days when the currents weren't in his favor, but he had always managed to have enough to live, even if half the time he curled up to sleep with hunger pangs still gnawing at his belly.

But Triss looked like she'd sooner break than any branch she stood on. Shogg's wiry build and short stature spoke of never having enough, of never being full, and Kroova wondered how any beast, even vermin, could do that to another.

The moon hung overhead. Time to wake Triss for her watch. Kroova moved towards the squirrelmaid, but before he got close, Shogg's bright eyes opened. For a moment, they stared at Kroova, feral and defensive before recollection entered them. He sat up.

"Time for watch?"

Kroova nodded. "Aye. hers."

Shogg untangled himself from the squirrelmaid's grasp, careful not to disturb her rest. "Let 'er sleep. She's had a long day."

"We all have," Kroova said as Shogg settled in by the fire.

"She could use the sleep," Shogg said.

"And so could you," Kroova said. Shogg looked unkempt as a tangle of kelp below the surface of the waves, and about as fragile.

"Somebeast has to watch," Shogg said with a shrug. Kroova sat next to him, and looked up at the stars.

"Get to sleep then. I'll take it."

Shogg blinked at him. "You will?"

"Aye. Now go to sleep afore I change my mind."

"I'm awake now," Shogg said, leaning back against a log, "I don't sleep easy once I wake."

"Suit yerself," Kroova said, settling in.

For a moment, they sat in silence.

"Hard to believe those are the same stars shinin' down back home," Shogg said, his eyes turned skyward.

"And on those vermin," Kroova said. "I wonder if ya can ever go far enough to outrun the stars."

"You'd have to go a long, long way," Shogg said. Kroova laughed.

"The farther the better," he said, "there's a wide world out there an' I want to see as much of it as I can afore I die."

"This is the farthest away from my island I've ever been. Least that I remember." Shogg's face drew together, pensive. "I might not a been born there. I don't remember, and no one can tell me for sure. We all kinda blend together there."

"I don't remember my mum or da either," Kroova said after a moment, "far as I ever knows, I took care of myself. But that's fine. The sea's the best mum ye can ask for."

"Closest I got to family is my Trissy," Shogg said, his glance straying over to the sleeping squirrelmaid, "she's always been there for me. I couldn'ta made it this far without her."

"Ya don't need family when you got friends," Kroova said, "true friends."

"Aye," Shogg said after a moment. His webbed paws scrabbled in the dirt. "But that don't mean you don't miss what you coulda had."

"No," Kroova admitted after a moment, disarmed by the rawness in Shogg's voice, "it don't."

Their eyes met. Shogg read his face for a moment, understanding blooming in his eyes. But he did not speak of the holes they both carried- holes named "mother" and "father"- and changed the subject. "What's Redwall like?" Shogg asked.

Kroova shrugged. "I don't know," he said, "ain't never been there." He considered for a moment, trying to remember everything Sagax had said about the place. "They can help us. They'll have good beasts who will come with us to free yer friends back at- where's it, Riftgard?"

"Come with us?" Shogg asked, sitting up "you're comin?"

"Aye," Kroova said, "Can't sit around an' do nothing while goodbeasts suffer. 'Sides," he said, grinning at Shogg, "You'll need a wavedog to get across that sea with them pirates about."

"-yer a good beast, Kroova Wavedog," Shogg said, and Kroova laughed.

"I ain't good," he said, "I'm just doin' what's gotta be done."

"And here ye are doing it," Shogg said, "when ye could leave it for anybeast to do."

Kroova rubbed his ear, looking away. "What are ye gonna do once this is all over?" Kroova asked, "when you can go where ye want and answer to no east?"

"Haven't thought that far ahead," Shogg admitted. "All me life, I dreamed of escape. Now that we're actually here..." He looked back to the sky. "I love Trissy, very much, but I want to see the world afore I die. I want to see a hole in the sea- a whirlpool."

A hole in the sea. Kroova had heard stories about them- of how dangerous they were, of how to see one was to stare death in the face. But they were also as far to the south as one could go. That was plenty of time to really get good with a rudder, to really test his skills on mother sea. "when this is over, we'll sail out and find one, together. There's gotta be one out there somewhere. Ain't no beast can stop us from sailin' out to sea."

Shogg's smile outshone the flames. "Aye," he said, "no beast can stop me ever again."


End file.
